Joey Hardin, 7, from Mt. Juliet shot his first turkey while hunting with his grandfather, Tim Hardin Sr., in Wilson County. The turkey weighed 22 pounds and had a 9½-inch beard with three-quarter-inch spurs. Submitted

Gallatin resident Stephen Tucker, 26, shows off the whitetail deer with a 47-point rack he killed on Nov. 7 in Sumner County, which is believed to be a state record and possible world record. Submitted

Tommy Fullington, left, and Pat Brumfield are high school classmates who graduated from Two Rivers High in 1966. Along with guide Joe Cathey, they caught these white bass (stripe) and rainbow trout on a major tributary to the Cumberland River. Submitted

Triston Crowder, left, a graduate of Lawrence County High who is now on the fishing team at the University of North Alabama, and his teammate Lake Blasingame won the FLW Southeastern Conference Bass Fishing Tournament on Lake Guntersville (Ala.) last weekend with a total catch of 27.6 pounds. Crowder and Blasingame show off four of the biggest fish they caught. The win qualified them for the FLW national championship. Submitted

Triston Crowder, left, and Taylor Luna of Lawrenceburg show off the five smallmouth bass they caught, weighing a total of 21 pounds, 5 ounces, to win the 17th annual Bullet Fishing Tournament on Wilson Lake. Submitted

Mitch Kuzma of Bethpage caught these two largemouth bass on Bledsoe Creek off Old Hickory Lake using spinner bait. The one in his left hand weighed six pounds and the other weighed five pounds. Kuzma caught a total of six bass. Submitted

Aidan Labadie, 15, a freshman at Father Ryan, center, caught this 36-inch red drum in South Carolina with his brothers Matthew, far right, and Zachary. His father, Rob, is holding the fish. The group caught a total of three fish. Submitted

Kelly Fleming, a nurse practitioner at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital, caught this 19-inch brown trout while fishing in the Provo River in Utah. Her husband Chuck caught a 20-inch rainbow trout on the same trip. Submitted

Nashville's Helen Alexander, 4, caught her first fish, a bluegill, in Richland Creek. Darren Smith caught this 6-pound smallmouth bass using an Alabama rig on Kentucky Lake. He was fishing with local guide David Gnewikow.

McEwen's Walt Andrews killed this 12-point buck with a muzzleloader near the Humphreys and Dickson county line last Sunday. Andrews is a senior on the Bethel University basketball team and on Saturday had scored 18 points in an 87-66 win over Tennessee Temple. Submitted photo

Bryan Dyer of Mt. Juliet caught this 5-pound largemouth bass and 15 others using spinnerbait while fishing in an abandoned rock quarry on a private farm in Smith County. Dyer, who is recovering from stomach cancer, released all of the fish. Submitted photo

Barbara Fitch, who along with her husband Herb is one of the owners of the Nashville Predators, caught this 31-inch rainbow trout with a 15.5-inch girth in the Lower Talarik River in Iliamna, Alaska. Fitch used a 6-weight fly rod to catch the fish, which she released. Submitted photo

Nashville's Brian Callahan and his son Brian II hold two hammerhead sharks they caught in Sam's Creek on Kiawah Island in South Carolina.
Nashville's Brian Callahan and his son Brian II hold two hammerhead sharks they caught in Sam's Creek on Kiawah Island in South Carolina. Submitted photo

Nashville's Evan Durnberger, center, caught this 60-pound sailfish while fishing off the coast of St. Lucia in the Caribbean Islands. Durnberger used 80-pound test line on a heavy-duty reel. Submitted photo

Ken Campsey shows off two turkeys that he and his brother, Tommy, shot in Nolensville. One bird weighed 17 pounds and had a 5-inch beard, and the other weighed 16 pounds with a 4-inch beard. Submitted photo

Ronnie Rippetoe, originally from Antioch and now living in Tampa, Fla., caught these white (stripe) bass on the Cumberland River fishing the waters between Old Hickory and Cheatham Dams. He was using swim baits. Submitted photo

Muzzleloading firearms are firearms that are incapable of being loaded from the breech. Muzzleloading firearms of .36 caliber minimum plus long bows, compound bows and crossbows are legal hunting equipment for this upcoming season.

The statewide bag limit for antlered bucks is two. No more than one antlered deer may be killed per day.

Tennessee’s gun season for deer opens Nov. 17. That season, which also includes muzzleloader and archery, runs through Jan. 6.

Local hunters bag elk

Four Midstate hunters killed elk during the 2018 Tennessee elk hunt at the North Cumberland Wildlife Management Area.

Henry Cothron of Bethpage bagged a 256-pound elk; Luke Dunham of Cookeville killed an elk that field dressed at 552 pounds; and Adam A. Miller of Jamestown killed one that field dressed at 554 pounds.

Porter Neubauer of Belvidere was the recipient of the tag permit for the Young Sportsman Hunt. He took an elk that field dressed at 558 pounds.

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Stephen Tucker from Gallatin, 28, holds the world record for shooting the largest deer
Video by Michael Schwab/USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee

TWRA honors Elkins and Kelley

Joe Elkins and Freddie Kelley were named the 2018 TWRA Biologist of the Year and Wildlife Technician of the Year, respectively.

Elkins has served as the manager of North Cumberland Wildlife Management Area since 2013. At nearly 190,000 acres, it is one of the largest WMAs in the state. Elkins began his TWRA career in 2001 and initially served as the forester for North Cumberland.

Kelley has worked with TWRA for 25 years. He is currently at the Region III Tellico Lake and South Cherokee WMA.